


Caution: Do Not Touch | Stosuh Story

by Flowersss



Category: DanPlan, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Disney References, Dogs, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Implied Sexual Content, Jealousy, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Shipping, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21751396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowersss/pseuds/Flowersss
Summary: Stephen doesn't like Hosuh. He doesn't like how quiet Hosuh is, he doesn't like how Hosuh always plays with his ponytail, he doesn't like the way Hosuh literally knows nothing but anime, he doesn't like it when Hosuh starts nerding out, he really doesn't like it when Hosuh talks about art stuff, and he especially doesn't like it when Hosuh starts acting cute. The list goes on and on.It wasn't like Stephen treated anyone any differently. His friends all had flaws just like Hosuh does and so did Stephen, and he understood that. He loved his friends platonically, he just picked on Hosuh way more than anyone else.It's not that they're not friends it's just that Stephen isn't interested in anything Hosuh's interested in, and he definitely isn't open-minded enough to give Hosuh's 'nerd things' the time of day.It doesn't last very long when Hosuh comes out with news Stephen never would have thought he'd ever hear come from the fragile boy's mouth.-----------------------------------------------------------------A story where Stephen is an anxious, mysophobic mess and Hosuh is a fluffy nerd who loves physical contact.
Relationships: Hosuh Lee & Stephen Ng, Hosuh Lee/Stephen Ng, Jay Ko & Daniel Lim, Jay Ko/Daniel Lim
Comments: 17
Kudos: 182





	1. Prolouge

Third Person

Daniel, Jay, Stephen, Hosuh and Ann were gathered around a table in cult formation at some random McDonalds at 12:30 in the night.

Everyone was getting along(for once), Ann stuffing her face with Mcnuggets while Stephen spouted out all of the bad stuff Mcdonalds put in their food, mentioning 'pink slime' at least 27 different times.

Hosuh was there too.

He was doodling on a napkin in his own world and humming some song from some obscure anime intro only he knew, sometimes stealing a fry from Jay and Daniel's large, oversalted fries. He also had that gross iced tea that only he liked.

Perfect time to annoy everyone and possibly maybe almost get kicked out for being too loud, Daniel thought.

He yoinked his phone from his pocket and put in on record, flipping the camera it so it'd face his friends, shoving his phone into Hosuh's face.

"Hosuh!" Daniel exclaimed, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Huh? What?" Hosuh looked up, startled and frankly surprised he was still on Earth.

"Say hi to my viewers!" Daniel beamed at him, Stephen rolling his eyes and yoinking a fry before Jay could smack his hand.

"Umm... Hello."

"Introduce yourself!"

"You just said my name though."

"Do it for the vine!"

"Vine is dead!" Ann piped up, receiving a loud, hurt gasp from Dan. "No it isn't!"

"Okay, whatever, hello I am Hosuh."

"Yay! Thank chu!" Dan smiled, pointing his camera next at Ann with two nuggets in her mouth doing the peace signs."

"Mmmph... Am Annn..."

"She's a trash panda, don't mind her." Hosuh added, Ann and Dan giggling as he moved the camera to Stephen.

"Stephen—"

"No." Stephen glared at Dan.

"Pwease? With a chewwy on top? For the vine..." Dan pouted as Stephen sighed.

"Fine. What's up guys! Stephen here, and if you don't like, follow and subscribe the person holding that fucking camera in my face won't survive to see the fifth season of Boku No Hero Academia!"

Dan backed up a little bit while everyone else laughed, including Stephen, "Okay jeez sorry Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Omg I see it." Jay gasped, Stephen facepalming.

Dan spun the camera around to Jay who smiled and waved.

"No need to introduce you, you're not important." He moved the camera away from Jay, who yelped.

"No wait! I wanna do it for the vine."

Daniel gasped, turning the camera back to Jay. "Really?!"

"Yeah!"

"Omg I love you!"

"I love you too." Jay blushed a bit and smiled as Dan giggled.

An extremely tired worker at the McDonalds approached their loud table, tapping Dan on the shoulder, who whipped around, pointing the camera at the lady who sighed in annoyance.

"Sir, your group has gotten many complaints from the other customers for being too loud... I'm going to have to ask you to quiet down. Also you aren't allowed to record within this establishment."

"Oh heck, I'm sorry. Joesonghabnida." Dan apologized while ending his recording, stuffing his phone back into his pocket, the lady nodding and leaving them be, off to finish her crappy job.

"Maybe we should go home and go to bed. It's almost 1 now." Hosuh sighed, checking his phone.

"Only 1 am? My study sessions last way longer than that." Jay bragged, Dan shaking his head in disappointment. 

"That isn't healthy at all." Dan sighed.

"You guys," Ann started out of nowhere, "I'm out of nuggies, let's blow this popsicle stand."

"You literally sound like a drug addict." Stephen commented, Ann pretending to snort 'sugar' from her McNugget box.

"You guys are right, let's go." Dan sighed, eating the last fry from his and Jay's box.

"I'll drop you guys off." Jay put a hand on Dan's shoulder, pushing himself up from his seat.

"I second that, I also think that Stephen should be dropped off first." Stephen grinned, Hosuh chuckling. "Stephen you can't do that." Hosuh smiled as he spoke.

"Yeah, because I get dropped off first. Ladies first, bitches." Ann hopped out of her seat as Dan gasped.

"No swearing." He pouted.

"It's okay Dan, I won't let those swearing sailors infect you with their potty mouths." Jay swore, Stephen laughing loudly, earning a glare from the same tired lady working at the front desk.

"You are the only one on my side today Jay," Dan clutched a hand over his heart, "and I love you for it." He smiled warmly at Jay.

Hosuh and Stephen had already started taking everyone's trays and throwing them away, both talking quietly for a moment. Something Stephen said made Hosuh laugh, Ann cooing from afar, adding them to her imaginary "list of ships" before scurrying out the McDonalds like a raccoon, the rest following a while after.

\---------------------------------------


	2. One - 4°C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephen really doesn't like Hosuh.

Late Septembers in Canada were always the same: Windy and cold.

Stephen hated it.

Granted it was only really 4°C (About 35°F), and it wasn't the most windy time of year-that was winter, which he hated so, so much more-but his tall ass had thin skin that wasn't at all helpful in the cold; 4°C felt more like -6°C (21°F) to him.

Stephen had been waiting outside in the windy cold for about 25 minutes before thinking about ditching Hosuh and just going to the Hibachi place by himself. After all, he wasn't entitled to waiting for Hosuh to get out of class, he just chose to so he didn't have to pay for his own food. Stephen shivered as a particularly hard gust of wind smacked him in the face, rubbing his thumbs against his frozen knuckles in his hoodie pockets.

Thankfully, a particular gray-haired nerd had finally shown up, skipping over to Stephen with his gloved fists balled around his backpack straps.

"Can you hurry up next time? I think I've contracted several diseases during the years I've been waiting for you here." Stephen grumbled, feigning annoyance, Hosuh smiling innocently.

"It's only been like, 30 minutes since your class ended."

"Ugh, well it felt like years!" Stephen groaned, crossing his arms across his chest and pouting, Hosuh giggling at his childishness.

"Let's just go to the Hibachi Teppanyaki," Hosuh suggested, Stephen agreeing and leading the way.

There was only one Hibachi place in their part of town, right outside their college campus. It was convenient, to say the least, until someone in their friend group had a craving for some Gyoza and House Fried Rice late at night and demanded they travel around 6 or 7 miles from their place at 11 at night, not to name names J̶a̶y̶ .

Hosuh endlessly rambled about color theory and how vital color choice is to a piece and contrast and symbolism and-Stephen would admire his passion a lot more if it were less annoying. And less frequent. And less boring, honestly. It wasn't that he was bothered by Hosuh nerding out, really, it just wasn't interesting. The way Hosuh played with his ponytail like an anime schoolgirl was more interesting than the rainbow. His frozen fingers were definitely way more interesting.

Stephen didn't really like Hosuh all too much. He doesn't like how quiet Hosuh is, he doesn't like how Hosuh always plays with his ponytail, he doesn't like the way Hosuh literally knows nothing but anime, he doesn't like it when Hosuh starts nerding out, he really doesn't like it when Hosuh talks about art stuff, and he especially doesn't like it when Hosuh starts acting cute. The list goes on and on.

It wasn't like Stephen really treated anyone any differently though. His friends all had flaws just like Hosuh does and so did Stephen, and he understood that. Sure he loved all of his friends in a platonic sense, he just picks on Hosuh way more than anyone else.

It's not that they're not friends it's just that Stephen isn't interested in anything Hosuh's interested in, and he definitely isn't open-minded enough to give Hosuh's 'nerd things' the time of day.

Once they actually got into the Hibachi Teppanyaki and grill, Stephen basked in the warmth of the small restaurant. A lot of the students who went to their university came here after classes, whether it was just to hang out, eat, or watch the food be made right in front of them just for entertainment, the Hibachi restaurant was usually pretty full in the afternoons.

Just the thought of the dirtiness of the place made Stephen's skin crawl, but he had to admit, the food was really good, and watching the chefs light up fires on the stove right in front of them was really cool.

"Do you know what you want?" Hosuh mumbled over to Stephen, almost too quiet for even the purple-haired man next to him to hear. It was obvious that he didn't like speaking or being around too many people at once, but sometimes it was just uncomfortable how close he'd have to get to someone for them to actually hear him. Stephen shrugged as a waitress came up to them to help them be seated.

It was a good thing they both liked the up close bar seats, beautifully close enough to where the chefs cooked to the point where they could hear the quiet crackling of the fire once they started up. Stephen would never expect the shorter man to like fire, let alone get near it.

Stephen rolled up his hoodie sleeves as they were escorted to a table, intaking all the heat in the room as he sunk into his bar seat.

Three menus were set in front of Stephen and Hosuh before they were left alone to find what they want.

They'd have to wait around 45 minutes or so until Daniel, their ride back home, got out of class, usually meaning a lot of 'bonding time' or a lot of schoolwork would be done.

It was usually the latter.

By the time Hosuh would ever bring something up to talk about, Stephen would already have papers and pens and highlighters out, maybe even the whole course textbook. The silver-haired male didn't want to be rude of course; Stephen was focusing, he couldn't bother him or he'd just feel awful about it. Instead he'd just doodle on a napkin.

...

Stephen wasn't sure how long he'd been working, but he knew it was long enough for Hosuh to ask the waitress for a few more minutes to order several different times, and long enough for Hosuh to cover a whole napkin with doodles too.

He peeked over Hosuh's shoulder, careful no to get too close, but close enough to see what was on the napkin. There were a bunch of small chibi doodles of his friends and a few sketches of the food pictures on the menu.

Another thing Stephen didn't really like about Hosuh was how he absolutely refused to draw in color or color his artwork at all. It made it so much more bland and meaningless to Stephen, especially since he'd expect Hosuh to like color a lot, being that he knew so much about it.

"Nice drawings," Stephen commented, not wanting to criticize Hosuh too harshly, "could use more Stephen though."

A chuckle emanated from the back of Hosuh's throat. "Um, thank you... I guess? I'll make sure to 'use more Stephen' next time. Just for you."

There was one thing Stephen did actually like about his silver-haired friend though.

Hosuh always listened to him.

"What are you gonna order?" Stephen quipped, laying his head on his hand, Hosuh giving him a small smile, grateful for the attention.

"Well... I wanted Hamachi Kama..." He mumbled, shrinking into his seat.

"Oh my god that's all you ever get!" Stephen groaned as he giggled.

"I know, and you always hate that I get the same thing. It's just really good and I'm really stubborn. I don't wanna try new things." Hosuh shrugged. "What do you want, Stephen?"

How could anyone dislike things they'd never had before as much as this small man did?

"Well, unlike you, I change my order every time," Stephen grinned with overbearing confidence, "predictability is vulnerability."

Hosuh laughed—loud.

Okay, Stephen liked two things about Hosuh:

Hosuh enjoyed his humor.

"Seriously though, I want some Yaki Udon. I think I could kill for some good stir-fry right now."

"I could kill for stir-fry any day," Hosuh agreed, nodding, "except I kill with kindness and love." He earned a chuckle from Stephen.

It wasn't too long until their green-haired friend had shown up to join them, Hosuh greeting Daniel with a tight hug as Stephen groaned in the presence of the 'highlighter.'

"How was class?" Hosuh asked as he pulled away from Dan, getting back into his seat and patting the seat next to him for his best friend to sit.

Stephen never minded how much better Dan and Hosuh's friendship was in comparison to his and Hosuh's. They'd been together since forever, there was no competition there.

"Stressful. What are you two stinkers up to?" Dan spoke in a fatherly tone, earning an eye roll from Stephen.

"We were enjoying our day, until you showed up." Stephen smirked at Dan as the highlighter scoffed.

"I am so hurt, where's Jay when you need him?" Dan feigned a sigh as he picked up a menu.

\---

Finally, since getting to the restaurant, the three had their food.

Daniel had backed up when the chef started cooking in front of them, scared of being too close too the fire. Stephen would gossip to Jay and Ann about that later.

Stephen and Hosuh both loved watching the chef do all of these fancy food flips and tricks, it was like a circus but minus the terrifying clowns(Stephen's irrational fear of clowns was so bad that Daniel often scared him on a regular basis).

They'd finally be able to eat their lovely meals after all this wait, even if Stephen endlessly judged Daniel's choice of Hawaii Rolls(not the bread).

Stephen and Daniel were bickering over who's food was better when they were interrupted by Hosuh clearing his throat, both automatically shutting up.

They both knew that if Hosuh had something to say, it was probably(usually) important.

"Okay, um this is awkward now..." Hosuh twiddled his fingers.

"Take your time buddy." Daniel piped up, Stephen and Hosuh giggling.

"I just feel kind of embarrassed saying this to you both, but you two really are the only people who need to know so you know where I am." Hosuh bit down hard on his lower lip.

"He's moving back to Korea! I knew it!" Stephen exclaimed, lightening the situation a bit as the three laughed.

"Hah...no. Never. I just won't be home this Saturday night, so in 5 days. I'm gonna go hang out with a...friend at night. So don't think I was like kidnapped or I went missing or anything..." Hosuh continued.

"Is that all—?" Stephen started before being interrupted.

"I have a date on Saturday with a guy I met. I'm going on a date." Hosuh finished as his cheeks drowned in pink flush.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (BTW I'VE NEVER USED ARCHIVE BEFORE SO IF THE WAY THIS WORK IS SET UP SUCKS THEN THAT'S WHY)
> 
> Word count: 1729 words
> 
> Extra long chapter. Usually chapters are around 1000 words, but I wanted to start off nicely.
> 
> BTW this was changed after publication so if you're revisiting and some things feel different in this specific chapter that's why.


	3. Two - This Really Nice Guy In My Art Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hosuh is smitten.  
> Daniel is teasing the crap out of Hosuh.  
> Stephen has an anxiety attack.

"Oh my gosh Hosuh, get some!" Dan gasped, giving Hosuh a round of applause who only smiled and blushed in response.

One thing was for sure. Stephen didn't expect that.

Hosuh didn't strike him as the type to want to date people. He already struggled speaking out loud around his own friends, let alone some guy on a date?

It didn't matter though, it was just a date. Stephen didn't care. He had better things to worry about like his job and how he'd spent his Halloween. Exams were coming up too, also he probably had to clean the house over again considering how clumsy Daniel was, which meant he couldn't possibly care about something as small as a harmless little date.

Alas, the system was rigged, Stephen's own mouth worked against him.

"So do we know this guy?" Stephen muttered, twirling his Yaki Udon with his chopsticks. "Good question!" Dan piped up.

"He's this really nice guy in my art class-"

"Of course," Stephen scoffed, "he has to be an artist for Hosuh to like him. Someone who really shows his true passion for the color of the sky." Heavy sarcasm laced his tone like venom. He didn't know where it came from.

"It's not just that though," Hosuh continued, Stephen rolling his eyes to the back of his head and stuffing his mouth with his Japanese stir-fry dish as his silver-haired friend went on and on about this guy who was obviously perfect, according to Hosuh.

Stephen wanted to feel more like Daniel about this whole ordeal: supportive and encouraging, but the idea just brought a bad taste into his mouth. He still didn't care though. More important things, of course, like making sure Daniel didn't do anything dumb and taking care of his cactus that he named after his god, Mirio.

"Yo, what's this kid's name? When's he gonna meet us? When's the wedding?" Dan asked a million questions, annoying Stephen in a way that even Hosuh's love-stricken ramblings couldn't compare to. There's only so many ways you can say 'They have nice eyes;' Hosuh provided each and every possible way to say it.

Hosuh wrinkled his nose at Dan's incessant questioning. "I don't know about the last two, but his name is Akio and he's kind of outgoing but also really calm and nice around me."

"That's descriptive," Stephen commented in irony, looking away from the Daniel and Hosuh as if even looking in their general direction would make him interested in such a dumb thing.

"Hosuh, don't listen to Stephen, he's a pessimist." Stephen heard the highlighter speak in a motherly tone. "We both hope it goes great, right Stephen?"

He didn't respond.

"I said, right Stephen?" Daniel's tone hardened, Stephen sighing and nodding. "Sure, even though I don't care about what Hosuh does in his free time, what Dirty Daniel said."

Hosuh laughed at the nickname as Dan pouted. "Thanks, I guess." He smiled.

\---

Getting home after a stressful day always washed Stephen over with comfort; there he had Mirio, his own peace in his own room, the plastic toy spiders he hid around Dan's room to scare the poor highlighter, and his cleaning supplies.

His mother would be so proud of him if she found out that he pretty much maintained the whole house on his own(Daniel doesn't bother to help clean messes he doesn't make, Hosuh can't clean for shit), and always had the right spray or soap or sponge for anything.

Stephen has absolutely no clue how he survived Daniel's endless hollering of outdated(and fairly shitty) Disney songs the whole ride to their house(no thanks to Hosuh for encouraging him), but somehow, he magically pulled through. Granted, he did have to yell at Daniel to "Shut your fuck up!" a million times, he still outlived the "Highlighter clown's" off key rendition of "I'll Make Man Out Of You."

Once they got inside their house, Hosuh made a beeline for the kitchen, humming something about 'Starting cooking dinner early.'

"Hosuh, all you think about is food." Stephen commented with a smirk, earning a harsh glare from the silver-haired man.

"You know, you don't have to eat, I'll just give it all to Dan—"

"No no no I'm sorry!" Stephen and Hosuh laughed, Stephen shaking his hands frantically.

Stephen could see Daniel ignoring them both from the corner of his eye, texting someone on his phone.

"Who're are you texting?" Stephen crossed his arms, poking his nose into Dan's privacy. Daniel's head flicked up as he held his phone against his chest. Stephen could've sworn that Christmas had come early, seeing Daniel's (gross)green rug of hair mixing in with his naturally rosy cheeks.

"Your mom." Daniel spouted on command before rushing off to start editing his dumb YouTube videos in his room.

The last thing Stephen needed right now was time to think on his own, but he couldn't help but find himself in his room, contemplating what exactly had happened at the Hibachi restaurant, or at least why he felt so weird.

Most people who looked at Stephen would automatically assume he had My Chemical Romance posters all over his room walls, black rugs to cover the light brown tint of the floorboards, and a closet full of band t-shirts(they'd namely assume BTS, Green Day, and/or Panic! At the Disco).

Quite the contrary, his room was bland as shit.

Everything was nice and shiny and polished, all clothing was neatly folded and tucked away, the walls were their plain, creamy color, and the floorboards showed only the color of coffee and chocolate. Really, he owned like, two graphic tees.

Stephen laid, spread out like a star on his sunset red bedsheets, trying to come up with some, any sensible reason, why he'd be so upset about Hosuh going out.

Maybe he was just overprotective over Hosuh, he knew how easily the poor boy got hurt.

Stephen was almost certain that it wasn't in his place to worry though. He isn't Hosuh's dad, and he definitely isn't his mom. Hosuh was a grown man, the day that he'd start dating other people would inevitably have to come. Also, Stephen did have his own life to deal with anyways. He wasn't necessarily doing any better in the girl department. Did he even like girls? He had no clue.

The only thing he was sure of was the tight, aching knot in his chest and the feeling of not being able to breath. He was still breathing, his heart was beating, a bit faster than usual, but still, but the tightening in the back of Stephen's throat made it feel like he was choking. He didn't know what his problem was until he felt his face heat up and his eyes water.

It was anxiety's little way of working against his emotions that he really, really hated more than anything.

Stephen took a moment to take in a deep breath, and let go after a few seconds. He did this until he started feeling tired out, yet calmer.

He didn't notice he had dozed off until he woke up way later.

\---

Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table as Hosuh was just about done cooking, Dan's head slouched in his hands.

"So you really are gonna finally go out with someone, huh?" Daniel chuckled, Hosuh furrowing his brow.

"You say that as if I'd never dated before." Hosuh put a feign sassy hand on his hip as he stirred to meat for the Bibimbap he was making.

"Yeah, but the last time you dated someone it was in eighth grade and you actually had the balls to ask them out. And 'they' were a she. Last time I checked, the idea of screwing a girl literally made you throw up once." Daniel teased Hosuh, who lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Look, I—... I don't know... I have balls of steel, okay?" Hosuh spoke defensively, puffing out his cheeks.

"Well yeah, but you're so much more quiet now. And not straight." Daniel ducked as a wooden spoon went flying at him, smacking into the wall.

"Keep it up and I won't miss next time." Hosuh grinned to himself and Daniel nodded in submission (dominant Hosuh is real).

"Anyways, where's this date gonna be?" Daniel drew invisible circles on the table with his index finger, Hosuh taking a moment to think as he adjusted his apron straps.

"This is going to sound really cliche and dumb—"

"Sounds just like me, I'm already intrigued." Daniel commented, earning a small giggle from Hosuh.

"We're going to go to this nice restaurant for early dinner...or later lunch?... I don't know but we're going around 6. Then we're going to see a movie and then hang out a bit after that doing hell knows what. Might go get ice cream, might not... It might be too cold for that specifically though." Hosuh listed off the top of his head as he lowered the temperature on the beef he had on the stove, preparing the eggs to make the sunny-side up for the Bibimbap.

Daniel cooed, Hosuh rolling his eyes and chuckling. "That's adorable. I want a Disney fairytale romance too, dang it!" He pouted.

"Then why don't you just ask—"

"Shush. Absolute nonsense coming from you. My love life isn't important if the person I like is probably straight, all that matters is that you have an amazing Saturday night and an even more amazing outfit to impress this 'Akio' guy with!" Dan refused to let the mood darken, despite Hosuh really wanting to talk about Daniel's life too.

"Alright, fine..." Hosuh looked Dan in the eye as he picked up an egg to crack, stopping for only a second. "Wanna help me shop for an outfit?"

"Bro, I thought you'd never ask."

\--------------------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word count: 1646  
> (BTW, all food mentioned in this fic is real, amazing asian food. I recommend all of it :p )
> 
> I̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶m̶ ̶H̶o̶s̶u̶h̶


	4. Three - Hot Topic And Hosuh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a chapter of cute shorts I wanted to do that are related to the plot, 2 more chapters coming out this weekend too.

The mall was filled to the brim that Friday morning.

"Oh my gosh, Hosuh look at this!" Daniel pointed at a large hot wheels set on a shelf.

"Dan... That's a kids toy."

"Excuse me, it's 6 and up, last time I checked, I'm up."

"No, it's 6 - 12 year old kids, you're 23." Hosuh took Daniel by the hand, "also, we should hurry up, it's already 12." He pulled Daniel away from the kid's toy shelf and into the clothing rows like if they didn't get to they point even sooner, they'd both simultaneously combust.

"We have all day, slow down nom."

"Very rude of you." Hosuh scoffed and gave Dan a look as the green haired man chuckled. Hosuh slowed down and scanned over rows of clothes, mentally disregarding all of it while Dan picked something out almost every five seconds.

"Hey, this looks nice." Dan picked out a cute coat from the rack of clothing, showing it to Hosuh. It was really, really pink. Around four year old girl Barbie dolls level of pink.

Hosuh stopped and looked for only a second before mumbling a small 'Eh' in response and continuing to search.

Hosuh's pickiness was no constellation to Daniel, but it only worsened when they had to go shopping; He'd look at a whole isle of clothes and automatically decide that he didn't like any of it before bothering giving anything a chance. It made Christmas shopping a hassle to say the least.

"Ooh, what about this?" Daniel went ahead of Hosuh, taking out a maroon sweater with a heart-shaped opening that revealed quite a bit of the chest. Not to mention that almost the whole back was gone when Daniel turning it around. Hosuh wrinkled his nose.

"That's revealing... I don't think I could wear that and still have any confidence left in me." Hosuh looked past Daniel at the rest of the row.

"I thought that you of all people would enjoy the virgin sweater." Daniel chortled, Hosuh's face blanking and turning a harsh shep of pink.

"No further comment." Hosuh peeped out.

"Why'd you ask for help if you weren't going to like anything in the whole store?!" Daniel laughed, Hosuh shrugging and smiling innocently.

"I don't know man, everything I've seen is really, how do I describe it... feminine, I guess. I do like this, though." Hosuh went over to the other side of the isle where they had started, showing Daniel a shirt with a cute cartoon bunny eating a slice of pizza with little hearts around it.

"You know that that's a girls shirt, right?" Daniel pointed out, Hosuh's cheeks and ears flushing in embarressment as his brow furrowed. "Never mind..."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a femboy!" Daniel put the clothing item back in the row out of place as Hosuh gasped.

"Shit, we're in the girl's section." Hosuh facepalmed, Daniel snickering. "I thought you could tell." Daniel grinned as Hosuh groaned, pulling Dan out of the girl's half of the store. For a small guy, he had quite the strong pulling force(not just strength wise).

It didn't take Hosuh very long to dislike to men's side too.

"God, all of this clothes is so masculine and ugly and black! It's like all they have are sweatpants and hoodies." Hosuh complained. He hadn't even been in the section for more than a few seconds.

"Miss the girl's section already?" Daniel poked fun at Hosuh, who shook his head and sighed.

"Maybe I should just wear what I already have." The silver-haired boy pouted as Dan scoffed. "Oh yeah, wear the same stuff you've have for almost a year now, good idea. Dude, let's just go to another store, we have a whole small."

Hosuh thought about it for a moment before gasping and piping. "I know where we can go! They have the Hot Topic a few stores down from here last time I checked." Daniel raised an eyebrow.

"You mean to goth store? Has Stephen been rubbing off on you a bit too much lately?"

Hosuh giggled and shook his head. "You know they aren't a goth store anymore. Now they are the 'pop culture' store." 

"I dunno man, I don't wanna come out with a tattoo, seven piercings, and black everything." Dan joked, leading Hosuh out the random clothes outlet store, purposely avoiding most people for Hosuh's sake.

"I promise, you won't. They actually have really cute stuff, and there's a churro cart right in front of the store and I want one." Hosuh clung to Dan's arm, who chuckled and sighed. "My wallet's gonna die today."

Dan never really minded Hosuh's clinginess. It was kind of adorable, in a platonic, older brother-like sense, though more often than not Daniel felt more like Hosuh's mom rather than his brother. Dan didn't have to protect Elias like a child, not that that was something he didn't like about Hosuh. Daniel definitely loved taking care of others.

Hosuh was right about how cute some of the stuff in Hot Topic was though. Expensive, but cute. Daniel picked out a bunch of rainbow colored bracelets and headbands for himself as Hosuh got all the goodies and clothes items he wanted on behalf of Daniel's (really crappy) college student and YouTube vlogger wage.

They'd already left the store and were halfway in the churro line when Daniel felt his phone vibrate like crazy.

Maybe it was Ja—His inbox was filled with spam from Stephen.

'Where the fuck are you guys??'

'I just woke up and I can't find both you and Hosuh the fuck'

'I'm scared Daniel, I can't fend for myself in this cold dark world without your light in it, I must know where you are so I may rekindle that now burned out flame'

'Please, I'm an asian, skinny chicken nugget, I can't be left alone for more than five seconds before I break shit that isn't mine'

'Seriously the fuck??'

'Did you die?"

'Are you dead?'

'Imma kill whoever killed you, I was supposed to be the one to do it'

'Wait none of this is sending when I press send the fuck is this shitty signal'

"Um, Hosuh, you didn't leave Stephen a note about where we are, did you?" Daniel had to hold back his laughter from the melodrama of the messages as he spoke.

"No, I forgot. Why, is he freaking out?" Hosuh felt bad for forgetting, biting down on his lower lip as Dan nodded. He worried a lot more than he needed to.

"I think he'll be fine but I also think he might break something. I'll just tell him that we're at the mall."

"No no no, let me text, you can order in line! I don't wanna talk to people!" Hosuh made a grabby motion towards Dan's phone as the line shortened.

"Okay fine, but don't look through my stuff. My search history is too gay for you." Daniel chuckled as he gave Hosuh his phone, who happily obliged and followed the one rule he was given.

'Why are you at the mall this early??'

Stephen responded to Hosuh texting him. Unlike Dan, Hosuh didn't bother telling Dan was Stephen said, settle to just answer the question on his own, typing out that 'this is Hosuh texting and I needed an outfit for tomorrow. Also it's 1 now, you should've been up ages ago.'

'Ew it's Hosuh, don't tell me how to live my life. I was just interested in the wellbeing of my not friend Daniel.'

'Can I see the outfit? Is it cute? Would you smash or pass yourself if you wore it?'

Hosuh thought for a moment before just typing out 'I dunno, it's a surprise' and slipping Dan's phone into Daniel's back pockets as the green-haired man payed for their churros.

"What did Stephen even say?" Daniel asked Hosuh as he stuffed his wallet into his front pocket and picked up their churros.

"He asked if I'd smash myself." Hosuh took his churro from Daniel's hand as Dan laughed.

"I would... If I weren't already knee deep in someone else's pants."

"Whatever."

\---

Stephen's least favorite thing about his schedule was how tight it was. He'd usually only ever get one day completely off to himself every 2 weeks, and even then he'd have more to do.

A Friday where he could sleep until 1 in the afternoon was a blessing; the Saturday after was not. Eleven to seven meant a rough day at bath and body works, but a manageable rough day.

Stephen descended down the stairs in full work uniform, carrying a backpack on one shoulder as he ran into an...interesting sight.

Daniel and Hosuh were on the couch, but the weird part wasn't Hosuh's ability to stomach being around the green rat highlighter for so long, but the fact that Daniel was painting Hosuh's face. Or that's what it looked like.

There were makeup kits all over the couch, opened up to a million palettes of highlighters and eyeshadows and blushes and that was all Stephen knew about makeup. It was more Daniel and Ann's type of thing since they cosplayed so much(also because Dan was a crippling femboy).

"Hosuh blink twice if you need help." Stephen tilted his head to get a good look at Hosuh from behind Dan's big head, who simply chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"He doesn't need help. I'm almost done. Just need eyeshadow to finish it." Daniel put down the eyeshadow and picked up the eyeliner brush.

Stephen could barely see what exactly Daniel was doing, but he was sure of one one thing, there was a lot of black on Hosuh's face.

He left to get his to-go water bottle from the kitchen, coming back to Daniel dying of laughter and a confused Hosuh.

"It's done... I've perfected your look... This is my peak creation!" Daniel gasped for air.

"Oh my god," Stephen stifled a laugh. Of course Daniel would turn Hosuh full goth. It had to happen one day.

Hosuh had a really, really long winged eyeliner, eyeshadow both over and under his eyes, a fuck ton of eyeliner and actual black blush all over his face. There was a particular reddish black shade of lipstick on his lips that stood out but still looked gothic as hell.

"What do I look like... Lemme see!" Hosuh became concerned, wrestling a hand mirror from Daniel's hands before looking and gasping. Hosuh's jaw hung open as he glared into the mirror.

"Holy fuck, I look like I belong in a graveyard at midnight...that's not Hosuh. Just because I shop at Hot Topic doesn't mean I would like this." The silver-haired boy poked his now blackened cheek.

"What, you don't like it?" Daniel calmed himself down, now smirking. Stephen could not believe that this was his life now. These two idiots.

"No! I don't! Daniel what the heck!" Hosuh playfully punched Dan's arm.

"Alright, alright, I'll do your makeup for real."

"Hosuh wears makeup?" Stephen raised an eyebrow, not very impressed by the thought (yet).

"He does now that he's in the hands of the professional." Daniel grinned, cracking his knuckles.

"Sure you are, I'll leave before you kill Hosuh with concealer or whatever." Before Stephen was out the door, Hosuh called out. "Wait! When do you get back home?"

"Around 7, probably 6:45." Stephen responded and looked back at Hosuh, who was pouting.

"Alrighty, but I want you to see my outfit for tonight!" Hosuh insisted, Steohen nodding and rushing out the door.

\--------------------------------------------  
Word count: 1937 words

Edited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays everyone and a happy new year!


	5. Author's Note

I'm going to be taking a break from writing this story for a little while as things sort themselves out.

When the time comes, I have 2 chapters that may or may not come out but I'm not sure yet so we'll see.

I know a lot of writers are doing the same thing right now, so I'm not going to jump onto the bandwagon and explain why.

If you haven't seen the video that recently came out, I'll link it below.

Please please please don't send hate towards anyone, only love and support for Stephen and Hosuh and all in between.

Just because a certain someone did something not so nice doesn't mean we have to be mean or offensive to them in turn, and we haven't seen all the sides of this so far.

In the mean time, I might work on a oneshot book or something with my freetime.

Remember, no hate, only love. See all of you later 💜.

Stephen's video:  
https://youtu.be/RlU32AfEVeU


	6. Four - Butterflies (And Denial)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unedited

A week ago, Stephen wouldn't be able to tell you what it felt like to get butterflies in your stomach.

He never got sweaty palms, he never stumbled over his words, and he never got butterflies in his stomach when it came to romance.

He never felt them in his gut when he saw a pretty girl, and quite frankly he never wanted to know what that supposedly "magically, firework" feeling felt like.

He knew eventually he'd have to at least try dating people; he hated the idea of being "#Foreveralone" his whole life. Never did he think he'd get those dumb butterflies for a boy, and he definitely didn't think it would ever be nerdy, shy, clingy Hosuh.

How could he? It was Hosuh, they were just friends for a long time so why now is it different when Stephen thinks that Hosuh looks cute. He always looked cute, it was one of his key traits-his most annoying trait. But Hosuh didn't look cute when Stephen walked into the front door of his house to see the silver-haired boy all dressed up for his dumb date.

He looked beautiful.

Daniel and Ann were on each of Hosuh's sides, fixing any tiny imperfect detail, though, Stephen thought the whole outfit-and Hosuh-looked perfect.

His hair was still in it's normal ponytail, but instead of one bang he had two framing his face, the ends curled inwards, so they laid against his pale, now grown rosy pink cheeks, drenched in a peachy pink blush that stood out against his light complexion.

Ann must've done his eye makeup, Hosuh had the most perfect curved wing eyeliner that it almost seemed illegal to be this pretty. And to those who think guys look weird in peachy pink lipstick-they couldn't be more wrong.

"Yay, you're back!" Hosuh exclaimed, Ann smacking his arms playfully for moving to much.

When Hosuh moved his arms Stephen could clearly see the design on his fleece, pastel blue sweater-it was a cutely designed lemon slice with the word "Squeeze" underneath in Japanese letters.

Stephen's heart swelled.

He was carrying a pair of teal converse shoes in his hands as well, the shoes having cute, white sunflower designs on the side; they were adorable.

Stephen was going to loose it.

"Yeah... You look... You look awesome." Stephen's voice wavered as he awkwardly smiled.

Before Hosuh could speak, Daniel butt in to break the peace(as usual).

"I know right? I did such a good job of fixing him up-"

Ann cleared her throat, loud.

"Oh right and Ann helped too." Dan rolled his eyes as he grinned. "No fucking appreciation in this house." Ann tsked, letting go of Hosuh, who did a small spin to show off everything.

Stephen noticed a bunch of small colorful pins in Hosuh's hair, prompting for Hosuh to stop so he could see them clearly.

"Oh yeah, I bought a bunch of little enamel hair pins from Hot Topic 'cuz they were cute." Hosuh giggled as Stephen looked at all the pins in Hosuh's silver hair. They were all over, but not so much in a tacky way, but in a Vanellope from Wreck it Ralph kind of way.

There were some bunny pins, sushis with faces, cactus pins, paintbrushes, they're were even a few pokemon pins in there. Stephen couldn't help but notice the cute pink ribbon that was used to tied up Hosuh's ponytail.

Stephen dreaded how pink and flushed he probably looked.

"You like Hot Topic? Also, why the pink bow?" Stephen raised and eyebrow, trying to ignore the immense pain in his gut-or maybe not pain, but queasiness...

It couldn't have been love. No way. Never would he feel such a thing towards someone he doesn't even like.

"I was surprised too." Dan commented and he fell onto the couch, Ann going on her phone to take a few pictures. Like fuck was she gonna put Hosuh in makeup and not take a million photos.

"Come on Stephen, is this not like, the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" Ann winked at Stephen who rolled his eyes in response, refusing to acknowledge the sharp nervousness he felt.

'Ann probably can tell how nervous I am, oh my god it's probably so obvious how gay this is, they all probably think I'm weird and gay as shit for getting dumb butterflies in my dumb stomach around someone whose only a dumb friend-holy shit I'm gonna die alone.' Stephen's brain was all over the place.

"Sure, whatever, I'm going to my room." Stephen huffed out as he made the conscious decision to walk out of this situation before he felt worse, Hosuh pouting and ruining Ann's picture from moving.

"But you won't got to meet Akio if you go-"

"I'd rather not... I'm super tired for work." Stephen cursed at himself for lying. "Okay, well sleep well!" Hosuh waved.

"Hosuh stop moving! I need these for my Instagram followers!"

\---

Stephen sighed as he went into his phone's contacts-there was no way he'd be able to understand this one his own. He scrolled to the name 'Other Stephen But Not As Good' and pressed call, sighing as he put the phone on speaker.

It took 4 rings before Jay answered.

"What's up?"

"Jay I need your help." Stephen groaned out, hearing a chuckle from the other end.

"Okay, blink twice if you're being kidnapped."

Stephen blinks once before before realizing it was a joke and mentally facepalming himself. "I just blinked once."

"Okay great, so what's your problem my guy?" Jay spoke casually, Stephen wondering how anyone could be so calm 24/7 despite being under so much stress and pressure as a senior veterinary student.

"I need your wisdom." Stephen laid his arms behind his head.

"With what?"

"You know those weird butterflies you get in your stomach when you see someone you like? What does it mean if you get them when you see someone you don't like?"

"You're in denial, is it Hosuh?" Jay answered almost automatically.

"Wha-How the fuck did you know?!" Stephen tensed up, startled by Jay's correct assumption.

"Oh just a hunch. Also I knew you probably didn't like girls and Dan is off limits, and I know you really only have a few close friends so there were only so many candidates for someone you would like."

"But I don't like Hosuh." Stephen answered, choosing to ignore everything else Jay said as to not embarrass himself further. "Wait, why is Dan off limits?"

"Because, I may have a friend who thinks he's cute... Also you're in terrible denial right now." Jay added.

"I'm not in denial! I just don't get why I would get nervous seeing him all cutely dressed up for a date when I don't like him." Stephen exclaimed stubbornly as Jay sighed.

"Right, I forgot he had a date tonight... Still sounds like hella denial to me my guy." Jay clicked his tongue at the end of the sentence.

It didn't make any sense, what was even denying? There wasn't anything for Stephen to be in denial about because there wasn't anything there. He doesn't like Hosuh and he never did and he never will.

"You okay Stephen? Haven't said anything." Jay spoke up, awakening Stephen from his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm just confused. Don't tell anyone about this."

"Sure. Is it cool if I hang over there tonight?" Jay asked, Stephen tolling his eyes and nodding.

"Just warn the others, I don't give a shit." Stephen sighed.

"Alright, but you should know that its okay to feel how you're probably feeling right now, you aren't doing anything wrong." Jay reassured Stephen who spoke a small thanks before hanging up and groaning.


	7. Five - Uno Cards And A Lot Of Matcha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (DISCONTINUED AND UNEDITED)

Stephen rested his head on his palm, peeking at Daniel's deck from the corner of his eye.

The green highlighter to his left had mostly greens(of course he did) and a few yellows and blues. Not a single red. Though, Stephen did notice a bright green reverse card in Dan's deck.

The turn system went clockwise: Jay went first, then Ann, then Stephen, and the Daniel(no surprise there, rats always get last).

It was perfect for Stephen to endlessly put Daniel through inconvenient color changes, skipped turns, and many, many +4 cards.

If Dan used a reverse card, he'd be able to do the same to Stephen; God forbid Stephen have his turn skipped by a green highlighter clown.

Despite how great it felt to change the color to red and watch Dan cry out for mercy as he picked up cards from the deck of extras, Stephen still couldn't bring himself to truly focus.

Instead of listening to his friends' banter or think about what he'd do next to try to ruin Dan's day(which was impossible to achieve, Jay would just cheer Daniel right back up), Stephen would rather empty-mindedly think about how gross the cards were, being touched all over by the hands of others, thank the lord he chose to wear kitchen gloves while he played. Or rather how gross the floor his friends were sitting on was; Dan, Jay, and Ann were sitting around a circular ottoman, while Stephen took his rightful position as king of them all, selecting the throne(couch) as his temporary seat as he played the emotionally destructive card game.

"Stephen! It's your turn!" Ann exclaimed, waving a small hand in front of Steohen's face; she had to lean across the table in an uncomfortable position to get up to his level.

"I knew that! I was just picking the card that I'd use...duh. Stephen always has to make the perfect decision.

"It takes you a whole minute to pick a card out of the four you have left?" Dan looked up at Stephen, raising an eyebrow.

"Omg, Stephen's getting to that age where you have an existential crisis every five minutes." Ann gasped, Stephen scoffing loud.

"Stephen does not age." He declared(?) as he threw down another red skip card, Daniel groaning as he looked down at his handful of over ten cards. He wouldn't be winning anytime soon.

"Okay boomer." Ann commented and grinned, slapping down a red 5 card. Stephen let out an exasperated gasp, clutching his heart. Someone wasn't going to make it out of this game of Uno alive.

"You're literally older than him." Jay piped up right before Stephen could cause a scene.

"Don't defend the boomer." Dan pouted at Jay who only smiled innocently and shrugged back.

"Beggars can't be choosers." Jay sighed as he placed down a Wild card, picking the color green, to Stephen's dismay.

Stephen didn't have the stomach strength or the willpower to live through the disgustingly sweet and fluffy praise Jay got from Daniel for finally changing the color to green. Let alone the pleased look Jay had the whole time. He just ignored them and picked up a card from the extra pile; of course he didn't have any green, it was only convenient that he wouldn't have any cards of the nastiest color besides pastel blue.

Now that he took that time to think about it though, pastel blue wasn't that bad of a color. It was soft and cute and fluffy, and it looked like Spring skies in the early morning.

Pastel blue was a color he heavily related Hosuh with. Hosuh's whole aura was blue to him. An ugly blue though. Definitely a boring color. Sunset red is the only good color, of course. Compare pastel blue to sunset red.

So what if it made him feel all cozy inside, and it reminded him of bunnies and happiness, and it looked really, really pretty on... Okay, maybe pastel blue was an okay color.

"Stephen, seriously, you good?" Ann piped up, bringing him back out of his thoughts. "I know you're probably tired and all but Dan literally just made a dumb joke and you didn't even say something about how stupid he is or whatever. " She went into detail. Stephen opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"She's right, usually you'd already have a knife at my throat by now." Dan gave Stephen a concerned look.

He didn't want to tell the truth about what he was thinking about—he wouldn't ever outlive that. Stephen wasn't even certain if he was even feeling anything different from usually or if he was just overreacting.

Went Stephen didn't answer, Jay piped up before Dan could start mothering him. "You guys, Stephen's fine, he's just figuring some shit out in his head. Also, uno, I win." He placed down his last card.

Stephen internally thanked Hay.

"Fuck!" Ann yelled out, Dan giving Stephen a light reassuring pat on the knee before collecting their cards to reshuffle. Despite how much Stephen messed with or made fun of Dan, Daniel still always respected Stephen's emotional and physical boundaries. Which there were a lot of them.

It had been hours since Hosuh left earlier that night, but Stephen still couldn't completely wrap his head around the situation he was in. Was it even a situation? Was there a logical solution? He didn't have a damn clue.

As if on cue, while Dan was distributing cards and Ann and Jay were talking about the latest Pokemón game, the sound of keys jiggling at the door and the handle turning alerted Stephen.

All three looked at their silver-haired friend as he came in, a small, sheepish smile playing on his lips.

"Young man, isn't past your curfew?" Dan crossed his arms, speaking in a motherly tone as Hosuh giggled.

Stephen peeked at the time: it was 12:47pm. Even Cinderella would've been home by now.

"Yeah, you missed out on playing uno so you could hang out with boyyyyyfriend." Ann accentuated her words, teasing an already flustered Hosuh, looking down and playing with the plastic takeout bag in his hands.

'Who in the right mind is allowed to be that cute—'

"He's not my boyfriend, also it's not even that late." Hosuh insisted as he looked back up, Dan shaking his head in disapproval. "I raised you better than to come home past midnight."

"Hosuh and what's-his-name, sitting in a tree—"

"Ann do not finish that sentence." Jay cut her off, facepalming.

Steohen cleared his throat as Hosuh took a seat besides him, way too close for comfort. "So what's in the bag? I hope it's steal-worthy." Stephen inquired, Hosuh handing the whole bag to Stephen. "No need to steal, you can have it."

'Who in the right damn fucking mind would be nice for no reason—' Stephen internally died.

For once, he didn't consider how many germs someone else's food would have, he couldn't focus on anything but the smaller, silver-haired man next to him.

Hosuh took Stephen's place in the ongoing game of uno as Stepehen peeked into the box of leftovers. The box contained Anpan with matcha bun(Sweet roll filled with adzuki red bean matcha buns), Matcha Taiyaki(fish-shaped matcha cake filled with sweetened azuki beans), and fried rice(with lots of veggies and sausage bits because Hosuh's a weirdo).

Steohen felt incredibly grateful for the angel beside him on the couch.


	8. Author's Note + Discontinuation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... :(

As you can see from the title, I'm discontinuing this story, despite how short it's life has been. I had the whole thing planned too...

I shouldn't need a reason to explain why, but I'll do so anyways.

Stephen's original video made me feel better that he wasn't stealing with a toxic relationship, but it made me concerned for everyone else involved. When he explained the story it didn't really get to me too much. I'm not affected by ethos(emotion), but by logos, or Logic.

I thought maybe Dan would make a video or even Hosuh but that never happened, and I've given it two weeks of thought and patience.

When I watched Jay's video the seriousness of Dan's fuckups finally hit me. Not only was Stephen fucked over, but everyone was; the numbers and the word for word accounts of Dan's actions and things he said that Jay brought up prompted me to leave the Danplan fandom in general.

I still support the creators on their own and I'm still waiting for Dan's response, but I really doubt he could redeem himself by now, and it's very likely that the channel will only go downhill from here on out.

If I were to continue this story it'd make me feel sick and disrespectful towards the wishes of those involved, and writing Dan's character into things would just feels like I'm trying to hard to make him seem better than he's acting, and it's really hard to ignore it.

I'm putting out the two things I had prewritten unedited and I'm leaving it at that. There's a Sanders Sides oneshot book coming instead if you're interested :/

I actually really liked this book too :(.

GG 💜💜

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy the story and my horrible english!!!  
> （＾ｖ＾）


End file.
